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Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:26 pm
by Ignius
What are some great movies that have changed your life, or come close to changing your life by making you almost take that first step....? I'm talking about movies similar to: Good Will Hunting, etc... You know, you've got this awesome power, now all you've got to do is harness it... Change your life, etc... So, yeah, what are some great movies??? You're all time favs, and why?

Rocky is also good, Gattaca, etc... Movies like that. Movies where you've got someone fighting against their genes and succeeding, or someone coming out of the gutter and concurring the world. You know.

?

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:43 pm
by Shahrazad
ignius,
Rocky is also good, Gattaca, etc... Movies like that. Movies where you've got someone fighting against their genes and succeeding, or someone coming out of the gutter and concurring the world. You know.
Braveheart was very good, about a hero who inspired others to fight (and win) when the odds were completely against them.

Here's a movie that never really made it big, but that can motivate you to go against your own limitations: Ice Castles. I saw it in the 70s. It's worth watching if you come across it.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:50 pm
by Ignius
Babe, the sky is the limit! Ice castle - good one! - I've heard of the book.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 2:54 pm
by Carl G
I liked Miracle at Genius Forums.

It's about a thirty minute time period during which a member named Ignius, who seemingly 24/7 races up and down the threads nervously throwing down whatever is on his mind, actually does not post.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 3:46 pm
by Shahrazad
When did they show that movie, Carl? Was I distracted?

Good one.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:23 pm
by bert
Happy-Go-Lucky
Miracle at Genius Forums

never heard of Ice Castles - checking that out

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:33 pm
by Ataraxia
'Into the Wild' isn't bad little movie.It's about a young guy who goes on a hitching quest that ultimately ends in the wilderness of Alaska with the intention of breaking down his ego.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild_(film)

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:17 pm
by bert
waking life

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:33 am
by Ryan Rudolph
Sometimes the best hero movies are films that reveal public heroes as anti-heroes. For instance: Last week I watched the documentary entitled the true story of Che Guevara, and it actually illustrated this man's life as quite tragic and sad in many ways. Che believed wholeheartedly in the communist ideology, and was committed to violence as a means to bring about massive change. In his mind, he believes he was part of a global revolution that he was the center of - boy, have we heard this story before..!! He ignored all signs that the ideology doesn't work on a pragmatic level, and kept up with the military campaigns only to eventually be caught in Bolivia and executed by the command of the US CIA.

It is funny how this man is celebrated as a hero in Cuba because he helped Castro overthrow Batista, but Castro also turned out to be just another tyrant and dictator, who had a very poor understanding of economics and political philosophy.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:01 am
by Ignius
I really want to see: "Taken" - looks like a good movie. Friday the 13th also looks good.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:04 pm
by Carl G
Yeah, I, too, find nothing more inspirational than somebody kicking ass and taking names. Good stuff.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 2:58 pm
by Ignius
I can't believe that matrix wasn't mentioned, that's like one of the most philosophical movies ever!

Star wars was also good...

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 11:04 am
by lloydmichael
Patch Adams is the best..it's a story about an aspirant doctor who believes that happiness is one way of healing others..try watch the movie..

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 11:19 am
by MaobiSG
The Pursuit of happiness. Can you please respond to my previous post?

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:20 pm
by Blair
Field of Dreams
Born on the Fourth of July

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:45 pm
by JohnEDPMalin
To the Group:

I enjoyed all of the movies listed here, especially, Prince's two movies.

My favorite films are:

The Ten Commandments
Dune [The third edition of this film in three or four parts]
Jason and the Argonauts
Troy
Alexander the Great
Brokeback Mountain
Matrix
The Queen
Elizabeth

Like Wittgenstein, I intensely enjoy films. I like sweeping epic historical romantic films. My twin brother and I use film watching as our only pleasures in life (not counting occasional smoking of cigarettes and drinking of Busch beer & brewed home-made beer)! We have never married and have never produced progeny. We served our intellectual development for more than fifty years [We started learning Latin when we were seven years old as Roman Catholic altar boys.] We have never stopped learning, be it mathematical, scientific or humanistic scholarship.

There is coming out two neat movies by Ray K. on the Singularity motif this Summer. As 'Fathers of the Silicon Bayou' in Southwestern Louisiana, we are technological to the max.

Respectfully,


John E.D.P. Malin & James F.D.P. Malin

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Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 1:55 am
by Carl G
Messrs Malin,

Curious as to what you found inspirational in Brokeback Mountain as well as the historical and mythological films you listed. In what ways were they life changing for you?

Thanks.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 3:31 am
by JohnEDPMalin
Carl:

It is great art that inspires us, as well as physical beauty of the actresses and actors. Cinema is the most complex art form ever devised. For a film to work for us, it must be grand, sweeping and passionate. The dialogue must be crisp and sharp, and there must be a universal theme to elevates our common perceptions of reality.

In Brokeback Mountain [Thanks for correcting my spelling; I edited my error] it was the physical male beauty of the actors, and their raw passion of submerged homosexual feeling bursting into awareness against the awesome background and scenery of the wild that touched our cord of common humanity [We brothers perceive that the human animal is essentially bisexual, culture programs the various sexual mechanisms; our species, Homo sapiens, has an eleven percent (11%) homosexual population, if unfettered by culture.]

Our historical and mythological films (as you put it) inspire once again by the physical beauty of the actors and/or actresses and the motif. The verisimilitude of the various historical periods (scenery, stagecraft, design elements, etc.) with its correlation of dialogue and major themes and sub-themes create a unitary perception in our mind. It gives us intense internal pleasure.

I hope Carl this satisfies your interest in our selections. These are the recent films that have made an impact on our dual consciousness as twin brothers, one a theoretical mathematician (James), and the other an ancient language scholar (John).


Respectfully,


John E.D.P. Malin & James F.D.P. Malin

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Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:04 am
by Carl G
JohnEDPMalin wrote:Carl:

It is great art that inspires us, as well as physical beauty of the actresses and actors
Physical beauty inspires you? To what?
Cinema is the most complex art form ever devised.
More than war? More than the Great Pyramid? More than the Amazon rain forest? More than the Milky Way?
For a film to work for us, it must be grand, sweeping and passionate. The dialogue must be crisp and sharp,
And largely monosyllabic, I've noticed; must be a tenet of screenwriting.
and there must be a universal theme to elevates our common perceptions of reality.
Your perceptions in common with your twin brother? I'm just getting used to your dual posting team. I keep thinking you are attempting to speak for humanity as a whole when you say "us" and "our". Are you two really twins in perception?
In Brokeback Mountain [Thanks for correcting my spelling; I edited my error] it was the physical male beauty of the actors, and their raw passion of submerged homosexual feeling bursting into awareness against the awesome background and scenery of the wild that touched our cord of common humanity [We brothers perceive that the human animal is essentially bisexual, culture programs the various sexual mechanisms; our species, Homo sapiens, has an eleven percent (11%) homosexual population, if unfettered by culture.]

Methinks you enjoyed ancient Grease in a past life. Pun intended.
Our historical and mythological films (as you put it) inspire once again by the physical beauty of the actors and/or actresses and the motif. The verisimilitude of the various historical periods (scenery, stagecraft, design elements, etc.) with its correlation of dialogue and major themes and sub-themes create a unitary perception in our mind. It gives us intense internal pleasure.
Pleasures of the senses and the emotions. And the mind thrills at the cleverness of the art. I'm still curious as to what you are inspired, to what end. Is anything life changeable for you in cinema. Is it only to be entertained, to be moved to.. pleasure?
I hope Carl this satisfies your interest in our selections. These are the recent films that have made an impact on our dual consciousness as twin brothers, one a theoretical mathematician (James), and the other an ancient language scholar (John).
Exactly. What impact?

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:19 am
by JohnEDPMalin
Carl:

I have to wash some dishes.

I have a lady friend coming over to visit us (James and I) in a few minutes.

I also need to take a bath.

I do want to deal with your questions to me.

Complex art form is predicated of artistic structures. You are quite right to talk about the complexity of engineering achievements, technological achievements and biological structures and astronomical structures.

More to come!


John E.D.P. Malin

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Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:01 am
by Animus
The Matrix
The Boondock Saints
Inherit the Wind
Identity
A Scanner Darkly
Pi
The Fountain
Samsara
Pay It Forward

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:58 am
by Tomas
-


-Ingenius-
What are some great movies that have changed your life, or come close to changing your life by making you almost take that first step ... So, yeah, what are some great movies??? You're all time favs, and why?

-tomas-
In no particular order...


Back to The Future Part 1

Combat Shock

They Live

Dealing: Or the 40 pound lost brick blues

Easy Rider

Kelly's Heroes

Blue Hawaii

Cowboys

more later...................

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:48 pm
by JohnEDPMalin
Carl:

I will deal with your questions above in more detail. I have not forgotten about you.

We need to define what is meant by 'inspiration.'

Some mean it for those movies that altered one's life. Others, those movies that intensely entertained one's personality, that is, brought out something or (re-)discovered a feature of one's being that one did not realize one had in mental storage. And still, there are others here who merely mean those movies they really enjoyed as entertainment (as one would enjoy taking out for dinner a beautiful love object or sex partner).


Respectfully,


John E.D.P. Malin

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Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:35 am
by Carl G
JohnEDPMalin wrote:Carl:

I will deal with your questions above in more detail. I have not forgotten about you.

We need to define what is meant by 'inspiration.'
Good Sir, the context was elucidated in the introductory blog; I quote:
...great movies that have changed your life...by making you take that first step.....[that help you see] you've got this awesome power, all you've got to do is harness it...movies where you've got someone fighting against their genes and succeeding, or someone coming out of the gutter and concurring [sic] the world.
Some mean it for those movies that altered one's life.
This is the meaning clearly established in the opening blog.
Others, those movies that intensely entertained one's personality, that is, brought out something or (re-)discovered a feature of one's being that one did not realize one had in mental storage. And still, there are others here who merely mean those movies they really enjoyed as entertainment (as one would enjoy taking out for dinner a beautiful love object or sex partner).
Those meanings deserve a separate thread, like "Fabulous Dinners Out, With A Movie."

I'll give you a small example of a life changing film for me: Around The World In Eighty Days. The version with David Niven. Something about it so impressed my adolescent psyche that I became more punctual as a result.

Re: Inspirational Movies

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:19 am
by Shahrazad
Carl said,
Good Sir, the context was elucidated in the introductory blog;
and
This is the meaning clearly established in the opening blog.
Has John Malin coined a new definition of the word blog? I think I'm going to start using it too, instead of "post".